I was in bed, texting Deidre, and reading my Facebook feed — and then I was like — omg, that’s me!!!!!!! Haha. Unfortunately, my husband was in meetings all day so I wasn’t able to text/email him 500 times about how awesome we are. Can you think of what Hannah went through today? That poor girl. I already have a tendency to kiss my muscles, and now this?!

The picture was taken by an old college friend, Ryan Thompson, who can generally photographs people doing things far more adventurous than I would ever do (I don’t want to injure myself for running!). Anyways, he sold it as stock photography and it ended up on the Nike Running Facebook page, and of course, I subscribe to them! Obviously.

SEE! That shirt I was wearing was, in fact, NIKE! I also felt the need to wear it today when I dragged Hannah out for a run, thinking someone in Denver might recognize me from the photo. RIGHT?!!? After all, I have the same dead ends!!!! Just a few inches longer. Disappointingly, no one seemed to acknowledge my newfound celebrity status.

Oh well, I guess my dogs still love me! Here you can see Pippa doing her crazy jealous moves because I’m cuddling Boyd.

Okay, I’m over myself now. I know I’m not that awesome. Plus I decided it would be unprofessional to show that picture to all of my students today. Haha. Although I think they’d be impressed because I know they think I’m very prim and proper.

I did make a few substituions because my gym was crazy packed, and it was too hard to find a spot for a mat. I was happy with my 31:43 finish.

Another colorful bowl! Do you need a great slow cooker recipe? We loved this one for South American Slow Cooker Pot Roast! However, I did skip out on the radishes. Radishes, yuck!?!?!!!! I’ll take this one step at a time. I wasn’t even eating sweet potatoes last year.

Good night, I’m exhausted!!

What was your biggest internet celebrity moment? It can’t be bigger than Nike Running Facebook page. Haha. Totally kidding. Besides that, Kevin and I were also once featured in Glamour magazine’s Save The Date column — unfortunately it was before I had a blog. I don’t remember those days. Seriously, I have no record of them.

Cute workout tank!! I put it to work almost immediately!!! Late birthday mail is always so exciting… and on-time birthday mail is so nice because you know people have been thinking of you! WIN-WIN! Although, I almost always send gifts late, and that just means I was thinking about you LONGER. :)

After a leisurely morning, Kevin wanted to hit the gym since he hasn’t been able to bike to work recently. I can never say no to the gym!! Ever. I even talked him into doing a mini strength workout with me. I saw this WOD over on blondeponytail.

21-15-9 reps for time of:

Dumbbell Squat Jumps (15 lbs. dumb bells)

Kettlebell Swings (1 pood or 32 lbs)

I was going to say RX!! But I guess my kb was only 30 measly pounds. Kevin and I finished in 4:34. I am not good at guessing how long workouts are going to take!! I promised Kevin it would be less than 15 minutes! Haha. I still felt like it was a tough workout! I did all the kb swings unbroken, which is good for me when I’m working with 30lbs. I tend to wimp out and start doing lame sets of 10-12! I don’t want to put it through the mirror after all!! :)

Lately Kevin has been motivated to do some of his own weightlifting. I think it’s because his legs are getting so ripped from biking. He wants to make sure his upper body matches. Awwaa… we mostly had the gym to ourselves because most people actually do something on Saturday afternoons. So we had a blast!

I rode the spin bike for 4 miles. I am the worst biker ever. Maybe if I practice in the gym, I won’t be so whiny when I’m biking with Kevin James. I also randomly did a mile of stairs, practiced my high box jumps, and did a few burpees and lunges with a 25lb plate. Just kind of casually. It’s my day off from boot camp workouts so I didn’t want to get too crazy. It’s just always fun to play around when the gym is super empty!

I was out of chip’ns. And somebody was taunting me on Instagram… so I had to get more.

2-for-1 at Sprouts!! Hooray!! I got those and Kevin got Red Hot Blues (also 2-for-1). BEST DAY EVER!! I was in such a better mood after I workout. Today, I realized that Saturday afternoons is always when I feel a little “blue.” Saturday is the day I usually put of my workout…. It all makes sense now. Haha.

By the way, the white cheddar Chip’ins pair well with SALSA!! Especially the good salsa we got last week at Whole Foods. Yum!

We also dropped by Petco to pick up a crate for pooooor Pippa. She needs it for while I’m teaching piano as well as to help her with some of her bathroom issues whenever we’re not home. But while we were there, I found something else perfect for her:

A pink dog vest with a furry hood.

Don’t worry, there was something for Boyd too:

I’ve said in the past, that a perk of being a mom someday will be the jogging stroller workout. Now I don’t need to wait! And Boyd’s a little chunk! :)

When we got home from the store, a GENIUS SALAD IDEA occurred to me. Kevin grilled some burgers, and I made this salad on the side. I’m going to perfect that recipe and share next week, my friends. It is wonderful. And Kevin loved it! And not even in the – okay, I’ll eat my vegetables first to get them out of way- way!

Time to go make some tea! I finally convinced Kevin that I will like tea (he says “you’ll have to drink it either way – ha ha) and bought some chai. That’s good beginner tea, right? I’ll let you know…

Are you a tea drinker? Give me your best tea suggestions! I went past ModesTea today — maybe I’ll need to drop in!

How shall Boyd & Pippa dress for Halloween? We don’t typically “celebrate”, but I need an excuse for the dogs to dress up. Wouldn’t Pippa be a killer ballerina??? Although it’d be fun to dress them as a famous couple too.

Do you send birthday cards/gifts on time? Not as often as I’d like!!! :)

Waking up this morning was like a little reality check, right? Kevin and I had yoga planned for before work, but my notorious self-discipline doesn’t actually kick in till I’m awake. So we rolled over and slept another 20 minutes.

Garmin check! Waiting for those dumb satellites to align! We started our workout with our Streak Day Mile #2… we ran through the park and back for about 1.72 miles.

I didn’t want us to be too tired before our strength workout so we stopped for a bit to do some Afterburners from Men’s Health.

Some new moves to try, maybe? I loved the dumbbell skier and the triple crusher was pretty fun too. They got nothing on burpees & box jumps, but it was a good workout!

I bookended my workout with some more running for a daily total 6.67 miles. Not bad for a Mondayish kind of Tuesday!

I was so thankful we had leftovers from our little Memorial Day cookout for dinner! I had a burger with blueberries and sweet potatoes, and it totally hit the spot.

We have been loving this BBQ sauce lately! I love that it’s low in sugar (and calories) and it’s spicy, but I can handle it. Boyd just wants a lick of anything. Don’t feel bad for him. He got a lot of potato skins tonight. He loves those things!

Did you sweat today? I hope you did if you’re in on the 1-mile challenge. The mile challenge is also a good reminder of another holiday coming up!! It’s not like that crazy long stretch between New Year’s and Memorial Day!

But first, the Princess Bandaids. BOTH of my baby toenails are split, and my right toe is still swollen from my little tumble down the stairs.That was over a month ago! It gets irritated every time I wear shoes. Which is every single day since I’ve been running so much lately! I decided to spare you from the full-size photo of my feet. I’m a giver!

There is no I in team, but there is in ice cream. The Dri Fit style makes me look like I ate a little too much ice cream, but I found it too adorable to pass up! I mean, do you see the shoestrings on the ice cream cone? That’s just clever.

These steals were both from the Nike Factory Store in Colorado Mills! If you look closely, you can see Kevin James inside the store coughing up the dough (he’s in the blue polo).

Omg. THEY EVEN HAVE HIKERS IN THE MALL. Stay out of my territory, you backpacking freaks! :)

A whole store of coats, and I tried on the LEAST practical one. Because that’s what I do. I always like coats that are way too fitted to actually wear a sweater/sweatshirt underneath. Do you have that problem? I hate puffy coats. I don’t need to PAY to look like a marshmallow. This is actually the perfect picture because you KNOW those are the shoes I’ll be wearing in January. Although I did see some adjustable calf boots the other day! Yes. I have monstrous calves. They do not fit into traditionally sized boots. It’s a thing that breaks my little fashionista heart.

We also found somewhere to take a very special nephew when he comes to visit someday! :) Too bad we didn’t hit that before his birthday!

Kevin got new shoes too. He has to keep up with me. He also got some clothes that are not workout clothes because he actually goes out in public besides to run. :) So cute.

I wasn’t my normal iPhonerazzi self this weekend. I apologize. I was really too busy having fun with Kevin James. This morning we tried out our first church in Denver. Maybe I’ll tell you more about it sometime. I’ll just tell you three little fun things about it right now. First, the church has Starbucks coffee. I’m not really sure what to say about that. Except I do love Starbucks. And Jesus. Second, the president of Compassion International was there as a guest speaker today. We really enjoyed that. Third, we thought our rental car got towed because we parked it in a totally inappropriate spot at the end of a row. It didn’t.:)

After church, we had to deal with returning the rental. Boo. That was a little headache. Literally. Hurt my head. But the day took a turn for the better because I talked Kevin into visiting another public library. It was in my favorite, fairlyland Southglenn neighborhood. And we got our library cards today! I spent a solid two hours choosing books. There will be some great book reviews coming your way sometime this week! My studious husband was just happy for some uninterrupted homework time.

Only about 11 months, and he’ll be done! Can’t WAIT! I’m sure I’ll have started some further education by that time. Maybe personal training? Do you think I would be a good Weight Loss Coach? I’m highly motivational, right? I saw a job for that on Craigslist tonight, and I got very excited. I would love nagging people as my job! I know, I know. I’ll keep looking in my field.

After spending three years reading and re-reading the Bridal Quartet series (I’m NOT joking) due to limited English reading materials, I get all hot & frenzied whenever I visit a public library. Thursday afternoon I went to my library armed with a list that I had emailed to Kevin so we could divide & conquer. We had an extremely high success rate since I had checked their availability out online before the trip, but they must be hiding some (not oversize) paperbacks somewhere. I’ve already devoured two!

That was NOT Laura Ingalls. The only thing extremely sad from the Laura books that I recall is slight dismay that Mary had prettier eyes and a kinder spirit. Julie, the heroine of this book, was always watching someone she loved die or losing all of her money in some unexpected way.

Tip: If you are squeamish, I would avoid Chapter One completely. Don’t let your curiosity get the best of you. Her little brother dies. That’s all you need to know. That’s not a spoiler. Julie tells you that within the first five sentences. Also, there is a lovely hog butchering passage that I will admit to power skimming.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and though it wasn’t a Happy Ever After – it didn’t leave me losing the will to live.

I picked up How to Be an American Wife next. This one wasn’t even on my list, but I judged it by its cover and brought it home. I liked it immediately. I was intrigued by the premise of a young Japanese woman marrying an American serviceman after WWII and her story. The book is completely fiction, but it was inspired by the author’s mother’s personal experiences. It was sweet, and I even cried a little tear at one point. There’s a point in the middle of the book where you might be thinking,”everyone is sort of depressing.” But the ending is decently happy. Sorry. You might as well know if I enjoy a book – it probably has a happy ending! :)

It would be a great plane read. You know, enjoyable and makes the time fly. He. He.

Perfect book reading snack. pretzel sticks + chipotle mustard. I like anything where the serving size is “53.” The chipotle mustard was a recent discovery. After accidentally buying BBQ sauce that was very high in calories and sugar, I was searching for a lower calorie alternative for days that I run less than 10 miles. Haha. This chipotle mustard is not that nasty normal yellow stuff! It’s tangy and delicious.

P.S. Guess what celebrity I am dressed to look like?

If you guessed, KARA GOUCHER, American long-distance runner, you are CORRECT. I got some new fitted running shorts today, and I was totally channeling Kara.

Spitting. Image.

And okay, I have to be honest. I’m sure we would’ve read the Bridal Quartet books anyways. Parker and her Crackberry are just too funny to resist.

Yesterday I went to the doctor. Maybe you don’t realize how epic that is. I haven’t gone to the doctor since my pre-undergrad days. Let’s just say it’s no biggie to self-prescribe when you’re living in the Dominican Republic. :) Now I would rather go to the doctor than the dentist (I don’t even want that word on my blog), but I still did a pessimistic countdown. For example, “Kevin. Omg. I have to go to the doctor the day after tomorrow. I’m freaking out!!!” “Oh no!! I don’t want to go to bed because when I get up, I have to go to the doctor.” Kevin felt the need to explain the simple math facts of sleep hours versus waking hours, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

Anyhow! I SURVIVED! I found out that Winona Health has a coffee shop (which I was excited about until Kevin introduced the idea that they might put NEEDLES in the coffee!), and my CNP rocked. She ran the Boulder to Boulder when she was 6 months pregnant with her third children (in three years). I actually briefly considered hugging her before I left! But I still felt I deserved a reward.

Kevin and I scarfed down some strudel, but he felt he needed some “real food” so we hit up McDonald’s again. My idea of an Extra Value Meal is a vanilla ice cream cone with a Diet Coke. :)

And then we went SHOPPING!!! We hit the mall first where I scored some Gap jeans for less than $10. They’re “straight” jeans. Not skinny. Straight. My extremely muscular calves can fit in them! I tried to take a picture of them, but lost patience. I’m sure you’ll see them in… every picture from now on. I prefer to live in one pair of jeans at a time. This little shirt was a TJMaxx special. It’s a Dri-Fit shirt, but I’ve deemed it appropriate for every day wear. I’m slipping already! I also got a brown hoody with a kangaroo pocket! I feel like such a snowboarder in it. I’m preparing for the eternal winter I know is coming.

Remember when I told you to buy your honey a shirt? Well, I followed my own advice and picked two from the Charles Tyrwhitt sale for my super handsome husband. He’s extremely mature so he doesn’t really need rewards the way I do, but it’s nice to reward him from time to time for his excellent coffee making (okay, and kissing) skills.

The funny part was that the second shirt was almost the EXACT SAME PATTERN as my Hannah Banana’s little ruffly shirt she wore for the fashion shootstrudel making. I <3 madras!

Your average American couple holds a rehearsal on the eve of their wedding. You certainly know the drill. You tell everyone where to stand. The bridesmaids are paired up with the groomsmen. The flower girls practice their pacing down the aisle. It’s all very organized and smart, if you ask me. However, Kevin James and I have just completely opted out of this. All the girls in my wedding are really professional bridesmaids and our dads are doing the ceremony so we can just talk to them at home over a bowl of ice cream.

Instead! We are doing a pre-wedding 5k around Lake Winona on the evening prior to the wedding. Afterwards, my future in-laws are planning a cute little catered dinner in the park. I don’t even really know what it is. Initially, I’m a dreamer about every last detail, but when it comes down to it I’m very practical.

However, there was the important matter of our running outfits! Kevin James and I love to coordinate. Check it:

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Looks good, right? As a rule, I despise the color blue in its entirety. However, I had my heart set on white Nike shorts. And you know, “something blue” never hurt! I also have a serious brand loyalty problem. I am convinced in my heart of hearts that Nike is better than any other brand. I told you I was an advertiser’s dream come true. My other randomly strong brand loyalty is that I prefer Visa to Mastercard. Weird, right?